Understanding Resource: Maldistribution and Acting on Inequality of Resources

Ochoa, Alberto M.; Pearl, Art

Journal of the Association of Mexican American Educators, p1-11 2010

The United States is both morally and legally obligated to equally educate all of its students. It means that the US has to provide all students with equal access and equal resources. Historically and currently this goal has not been met. To truly provide all students with equal resources would require reformative action at many levels. Leveling the playing field is more than equally distributing monetary resources. In this article the authors examine seven maldistribution conditions that impact educational equity and resources to actualize equal educational access for Latino and low-income communities. Maldistribution of resources cuts across every educational activity and human development domain. It questions why America fails to fairly invest in all of its schools or school communities. The seven maldistribution conditions examined in this article are: (1) fiscal resource distribution between schools; (2) fiscal resource distribution and use within a school; (3) resource distribution reflected in teacher quality at the K-12 level; (4) resource distribution in time spent on teaching at the classroom level; (5) resource distribution as reflected by differences in teacher encouragement within a classroom; (6) resource distribution of classroom authority; and (7) resource distribution as a result of unengaging and mind numbing curriculum.